A number of techniques exist for mounting and displaying coins. In general, coin displays fall into one of four categories: (1) devices which allow the user to snap an unprotected coin into a paper board cutout that is essentially the same size as the coin (such as a Whitman™ coin folder); (2) hard plastic capsules which encapsulate a coin and allow it to be displayed in a box or album; (3) flexible laminated mylar/polyethelyne and similar packagings which allow a coin to be sandwiched between two layers of material; and (4) coin “bubbles” which generally comprise semi-rigid plastic materials which are vacuum-formed to the size and shape of the coin, and which allow the coin to be encapsulated and mounted on or between other rigid materials, such as two layers of card stock.
With any of these types of displays, and particularly in the case of a display having a coin “bubble,” the assembly process must provide careful orientation of the coin within the display packaging, so that in the finished product, the coin is properly aligned relative to the surrounding elements of the display. Proper rotational alignment of the coin within the surrounding packaging of the display is an important consideration for many customers, and even a minuscule rotation of the coin within the display can cause consumer dissatisfaction. Also, because the “ideal” coin alignment is a matter of personal preference, customers are sometimes dissatisfied even when the coins are properly aligned in the display. The problem of maintaining rotational alignment is compounded when multiple coins are provided in a single display. This rotational alignment problem results in a significant increase in manufacturing costs in order to assure consistent quality for the displays.
Attempts have been made to provide a coin display in which the coins are sealed in the product in such a way that the coins can be rotated within the product even after assembly. With these displays, the alignment of the coins can be adjusted by the customer to his or her satisfaction when the product is in the consumer's hands.
This approach does suffer from some drawbacks. For instance, the “bubbles” into which the coins are sealed include concentric flanges which hold the bubble in place between two layers of card stock material. The adhesive used to join the cards together tends to adhere to the flange, which can make rotation of the coin in the display extremely difficult, if not impossible. Also, the flange portion of the bubble adds thickness between the layers of card stock used in the display assembly. This results in the formation of a noticeable “hump” in the card stock surrounding the coin, which is undesirable for many applications. For instance, when these “humps” are present in the coin display, the resultant uneven surface of the display makes manufacturing such displays difficult. The sealing head used to form the laminate structure must often be specially machined to relieve the pressure and distortions caused by these uneven surfaces.
In a rotatable coin display, the layers of card stock surrounding the coin bubble can be adhered to one another using a variety of adhesives, including contact latex-based adhesives, or heat and pressure activated adhesives. Latex-based adhesives have the advantage of being able to be assembled without special equipment. However, the adhesive itself typically contains chlorine, sulfur, or other compounds which, over time, react with the coins and result in their discoloration. Heat and pressure activated adhesives are available which are essentially inert and do not react with the coins, although these adhesives must be activated using special equipment. In addition, the heat and pressure used to activate these adhesives can present significant problems in connection with the lamination of products designed to display coins. Heat affects the bubbles, and frequently causes the flanges to adhere to the card stock. As a result, where the rotatable coin bubbles are desired, it is typically necessary to break the coin bubbles loose from the card stock after the heat and pressure sealing process so that the bubbles will rotate easily. This adds significant costs to the manufacture of rotatable coin displays, and can render large-scale commercial production of such products prohibitively expensive.